Finally, Silicon Valley and Donald Trump agree on something: Taxes – Recode
Silicon Valleys top tech executives have tangled with President Donald Trump over everything from his travel ban to his approach on issues like climate change.
But the likes of Apple and Google appear to have put aside their differences with the Republican commander-in-chief, after he unveiled a tax reform plan on Wednesday that could dramatically lower their tax bills and help them return to the U.S. billions of dollars in profits currently overseas.
Trumps plan is still just an early set of ideas its a single page, not some complex, comprehensive piece of legislation and its already drawing complaints from Congress about its cost.
But the contours of it are catnip to the tech industry. Under his blueprint, for example, the corporate tax rate would fall to 15 percent, a major decrease from the current 35 percent rate. The plan also backs shifting the U.S. to a territorial tax system, meaning that only U.S.-based companies domestic earnings could be taxed.
And itd make it significant cheaper for companies to return their foreign profits to the United States. Currently, companies are taxed at a rate of 35 percent when they repatriate those dollars. If Trump has his way, though, businesses might get a one-time tax break perhaps a rate even as low as 10 percent to bring their cash back.
Thats a major boon for the tech sector, where five companies alone are estimated to have $505 billion in cash overseas, according to an analysis done last year by Moodys Investors Service. But the idea, known as a repatriation holiday, hasnt always delivered the economic benefits its proponents claim.
The likes of Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Intel through their leading Washington, D.C.-based lobbying group offered rare praise of Trump on Wednesday.
We stand ready to support tax reform that lowers the corporate rate, moves to a territorial system in which profits are taxed where they occur and invests in innovation that is needed to drive our economy to new heights of prosperity and job creation for the American people, said Andy Halataei, the senior vice president for government affairs at the Information Technology Industry Council. We appreciate todays announcement from the Trump administration and see it as a step toward advancing these objectives.
Tech giants have lobbied for years to advance robust reforms to U.S. tax laws, without much success. That includes Apple, where CEO Tim Cook has worked vigorously behind the scenes to make his case to congressional lawmakers and Trump administration officials. Others, like Google and Microsoft, have devoted millions of dollars toward lobbying federal regulators to lessen their tax bills, federal records show.
As part of the tech industrys push, those companies also fought aggressively against applying a new special tax on many imports, an idea called border adjustment. The idea is backed by the likes of House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., but so far, Trump hasnt pursued it.
View original post here:
Finally, Silicon Valley and Donald Trump agree on something: Taxes - Recode